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VTJP Vermonters for a Just Peace in Palestine/Israel News & Articles 11 July 2013: Settlers cut down 1,150 olive trees in Nablus

Five-year-old Palestinian boy detained in HebronIMEMC – Despite being below the age of criminal responsibility, 5-year-old Wadi’ Maswadeh was detained for two hours by Israeli soldiers July 9th near the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron after he allegedly threw a stone at a settler’s car. …

Settlers Cut 1150 Olive Trees Near NablusIMEMC – Ghassan Daghlas, in charge of Israeli Settlements File at the Palestinian Authority in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, has reported that a number of extremist Israeli settlers cut on Thursday [July 10 2013] 1150 Palestinian Olive trees east of the Nablus District. …

P.A: All Detainees Held Before Oslo Must Be Released IMEMC – Palestinian Minister of Detainees, Issa Qaraqe , stated that President Mahmoud Abbas insists on the release of all 104 detainees who have been held by Israeli since before the first Oslo Agreement in 1993, without any discrimination, or conditions. …

Soldiers Invade The Al-Fawwar Refugee Camp In HebronIMEMC – Local sources in the Al-Fawwar refugee camp, in the southern West Bank district of Hebron, have reported that clashes have been reported in the camp after Israeli soldiers invaded it, earlier on Thursday at dawn [July 11 2013]. …

Settlers cut down 1,150 olive trees in Nablus7/11/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli settlers on Thursday cut down 1,150 olive trees in Palestinian groves near Nablus, a Palestinian Authority official said. Residents of Itamar settlement used chainsaws to cut down the trees north of Awarta, said Ghassan Daghlas, who monitors settlement activity in the northern West Bank. The trees belonged to 25 Palestinian families and were planted in a 600-dunum grove, Daghlas….

Extremist Israelis ‘taunt Muslim worshipers’ at Al-Aqsa Mosque7/11/2013 – JERUSALEM (Ma’an) — Jewish extremists taunted Muslim worshipers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Thursday, witnesses said. Over 130 Israelis entered the compound from the the Moroccan Gate, escorted by Israeli police. They chanted “Al-Aqsa will be destroyed,” “The temple is coming soon,” and “Soon Al-Aqsa will be in our hands,” as they toured the compound, witnesses told Ma’an. Azzam….

Police: Gaza rocket hits southern Israel7/11/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) — Militants in the Gaza Strip fired a projectile at southern Israel on Thursday without causing casualties or damage, a police spokesman told AFP.”Earlier today, a rocket was fired out of Gaza Strip, it landed in the Negev region,” Micky Rosenfeld said.”As of now, no injuries or damages were reported, and police units were searching the different areas.”[END]

Israeli army says weapons seized in Nablus7/11/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — Israeli forces seized ammunition in a raid on Nablus early Thursday, the army said. An Israeli military spokeswoman told Ma’an that soldiers found a rifle and two pipe-bombs in the northern West Bank city. Locals told Ma’an that Israeli forces accompanied by police dogs raided university dorms in the al-Juneid area of Nablus and inspected students’….

Kidnapped woman released in Nablus7/11/2013 – NABLUS (Ma’an) — A 19-year-old woman who was abducted near her home on Wednesday was released early Thursday, police and relatives said. Sanaa Malayta’s kidnappers telephoned her family in the early hours of Thursday morning, notifying them that she would be released near Qarawat Bani Hassan, a village in Salfit district. She was unharmed, her family and police said. The car….

Official: Rafah to continue operating at reduced capacity7/11/2013 – GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – The Rafah crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip continued to operate partly Thursday in both directions, a Palestinian official said. Mahir Abu Sabha, director general of the crossings department, told Ma’an that the Egyptian side informed Palestinian officials that the crossing would continue to operate partially in the coming days to end the crisis for Gaza passengers….

Palestinian economic plan ‘taking shape’7/11/2013 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — Behind the scenes, a team of international experts have for months been working on a plan to boost the stagnant Palestinian economy, set to be launched if peace talks with the Israelis resume. US Secretary of State John Kerry unveiled the broad contours of the scheme to attract some $4 billion in private-sector investment over the next three years at a World Economic….

Greek plane makes emergency landing in Tel Aviv7/11/2013 – JERUSALEM (AFP) – (AFP) – A Greek charter plane made an emergency landing at Tel Aviv’s Ben Gurion airport on Thursday after the pilot had sent out a distress signal, an airport official told AFP.”The airport was placed on a state of alert after receiving a distress message about a technical problem but the aircraft landed without incident,” the official said. Israeli media had….

Egypt PM says won’t rule out Brotherhood role in govt7/11/2013 – CAIRO (AFP) — Egypt’s Prime Minister Hazem al-Beblawi said on Thursday he does not rule out posts for the Muslim Brotherhood in a new cabinet, if the candidates were suitably qualified. Beblawi, who was appointed on Tuesday, said he was still considering who would comprise the interim government after Islamist president Mohamed Mursi’s ouster in a popular military coup last week.”I….

Syria’s Assad says ousted Baathists made mistakes7/11/2013 – DAMASCUS (AFP) — Ruling party leaders removed in a reshuffle this week had made mistakes while in office, Syria’s President Bashar Assad told the Baath party’s mouthpiece in an interview published Thursday. The interview was published two days after the Baath party announced the names of 16 new leaders, which included none of the party’s former chiefs with the exception….

UN accepts Syria talks offer on chemical arms claims7/11/2013 – NEW YORK (AFP) — The United Nations has accepted the Syrian government’s invitation for a visit by two senior UN officials for talks on the purported use of chemical weapons in the country’s bloody civil war, a UN spokesman said. The offer of talks was made to Swedish scientist Ake Sellstrom, named by the United Nations to investigate the claims, and Angela….

Kidnapped Coptic Christian found dead in Sinai7/11/2013 – EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) — A Coptic Christian shop owner was found dead on Thursday in North Sinai, five days after he was kidnapped by gunmen, Egyptian security sources said. The body of Majdi Lamai Habashi, 60, was found near a cemetery in the Sheikh Zuweid area near the border with the Gaza Strip. His throat had been slit, security officials told Ma’an….

Syria jihadists lose support as abuses mount7/11/2013 – BEIRUT (AFP) — In the early days of the Syrian uprising, when opponents of the regime were desperate for assistance from any quarter, jihadist fighters were welcomed but a spate of abuses is fueling a backlash. Things have changed.”Out, out, out, the (Islamic) State (of Iraq and Syria) must get out,” protesters shouted at a rally in the northern town of Manbij this week, referring….

Security: 14 members of Iraqi security forces killed7/11/2013 – TIKRIT, Iraq (AFP) — Gunmen shot dead 14 members of the Iraqi security forces, including 11 who guard oil pipelines, in an attack in the northwest on Thursday, security and medical sources said. The attack by the unidentified group of assailants took place on a road between Haditha and Baiji, some 120 miles north of Baghdad. [END]

Activists: Ramadan brings no respite to Syria’s Homs7/11/2013 – BEIRUT (AFP) — An army assault on Homs in central Syria entered its 13th day Thursday, as the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan brought no relief to people in rebel areas, activists said.”There isn’t a minute that goes by that we do not hear the sound of a rocket or a shell hit the besieged (rebel-held) neighborhoods, especially Khaldiyeh and Bab Hud,” said….

IMF says no contact with Egypt’s interim govt7/11/2013 – WASHINGTON (AFP) — The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it has had no contact with Egypt’s interim government, but that technical level talks continue on a potential IMF loan. IMF spokesman Gerry Rice said the IMF was considering the implications of the situation in Egypt, following last week’s military coup, on the loan prospects.”We have not been in touch with….

Second interview with Ilan Pappe: ‘The basic Israeli ideology – Zionism is the problem’7/11/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 11th July 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Haifa – Ilan Pappe is an Israeli academic and activist. He is currently a professor at the University of Exeter (UK) and is well known for being one of the Israeli “new historians” re-writing the Zionist narrative of the Palestinian Israeli situation. He has publicly spoken out against Israel’s policies of ethnic cleansing of Palestine and condemned….

Student apartments burnt during Israeli military invasion of Nablus7/11/2013 – International Solidarity Movement – 12th July 2013, International Solidarity Movement, Nablus Team, Nablus, Occupied Palestine – In the early hours of Wednesday the 10th of July, the Israeli army, arriving from the military camp near the settlement of Qedumim (8km west of Nablus) raided the Nablus neighbourhood of Al Junied, near the new Al Najjar university campus. The neighbourhood, which includes many student dormitories, was invaded by seven jeeps, who….

Britons mourn murdered soldier Lee RigbyThe National 11 Jul 2013 – Hundreds of Britons turned out on Thursday to mourn Lee Rigby, a soldier whose murder on a London street made international headlines in May and heightened community tensions in parts of Britain.

Egypt’s military disputes ‘massacre’ death tollThe National 11 Jul 2013 – Military casts doubt on the number of Morsi supporters killed, as Amnesty International accuses it of using ‘grossly disproportionate force’ against protesters. Bradley Hope reports from Cairo†

Analysts: Improvement in relations with Ankara unlikelyJerusalem Post 11 Jul 2013 – Poll conducted under the auspices of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism shows Erdogan’s rhetoric has resulted in an upsurge in anti-Semitism that does not bode well for a thaw in relations.†

Israel admits holding second secret prisonerThe Guardian 11 Jul 2013 – A second secret prisoner is being held in same jail that Israeli-Australian spy known as Prisoner X killed himself in 2010 Israel is holding a second unidentified security prisoner in conditions of extreme secrecy, according to…

Morocco ex-airport chief jailed for corruptionDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 A court in Morocco on Thursday sentenced to jail the former head of the country’s Airport Authority (ODA) and eight others on charges of corruption, their lawyer told AFP.

US envoy confident on deal with Afghans on troopsDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 Facing sharp criticism from a Senate panel, a senior Obama administration official expressed optimism Thursday that the U.S. will reach an agreement with the Afghan government allowing American troops to remain in the country beyond 2014.

U.S. court rejects religion-based challenge to ObamacareDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected a Christian university’s religion-based challenge against part of President Barack Obama’s 2010 healthcare overhaul, which the school claimed had forced taxpayers and employers to subsidize abortions and contraception.

Egypt welcomes U.S. remarks on Mursi; food stocks dwindleDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 Egypt’s interim rulers welcomed on Thursday remarks from the U.S. State Department describing the rule of toppled leader Mohamed Mursi as undemocratic, read in Cairo as a signal that Washington will not cut off its $1.5…

IMF says no discussions with Egypt’s interim governmentDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 The International Monetary Fund on Thursday said it was not currently discussing a possible loan with Egypt’s interim government, and its decision on whether to engage would be guided by the views of the international community.

Raids kill 16 in Iraq’s restive western provinceDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 Insurgents launched two days of bloody assaults on security force posts in Iraq’s restive Anbar province, killing at least 16 at the start of the holy month of Ramadan, authorities said Thursday.

Tunisia frees jailed ex-regime figuresDaily Star 11 Jul 2013 Tunisian authorities early on Thursday released from jail two former figures of the toppled regime who were arrested following the 2011 uprising for abuse of power, the justice ministry said.

10 thousand new housing units in Jerusalem and WBPIC – Plans for 10,000 homes over the pre-1967 lines were ready to be marketed in Jerusalem and West Bank settlements, the Israeli Minister for Construction and Housing Uri Ariel said on Wednesday..

Egyptian army defends role in Cairo protest deathsLA Times 11 Jul 2013 – CAIRO With supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsi calling for another mass rally Friday, the Egyptian military gave a fuller accounting of its role in the deaths of at least 51 protesters this week, saying it resorted to deadly force only after encountering stones,…

War-torn Syria moves to shore up currencyLA Times 11 Jul 2013 – BEIRUT War-battered Syria moved Thursday to protect its battered currency, proposing new laws to criminalize dealings in other nations bank notes.

Iraq Attacks Leave 31 Dead, Mostly Security ForcesNew York Times 11 Jul 2013 – Gunmen overran an Iraqi army checkpoint and then fired on a trailer packed with policemen breaking their Ramadan fast in the western Anbar province, authorities said Thursday.

IEC to start $9b Leviathan gas talksGlobes Energy & Water – Sources: IEC CEO Eli Glickman has ordered the fuel administration to open talks with Leviathan’s partners, subject to converting the Hadera power station to gas.

Egypt: Egypt Turns Away SyriansallAfrica.com 11 Jul 2013 – [AI London]The Egyptian authorities should not recklessly deny entry to Syrians and must provide anyone fleeing the conflict the opportunity to seek asylum, Amnesty International said today after reports that some 259 people were turned back at Cairo Airport on Monday.

With Islamist Allies Ousted in Egypt, What Will Erdogan Do?Al-Akhbar Opinion 11 Jul 2013 – An Egyptian girl holds a baby as Egyptian supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and Egypt’s ousted president Mohamed Morsi pray outside Cairo’s Rabaa al-Adawiya mosque on 10 July 2013, the first day of Islam’s holy fasting month of Ramadan. (Photo: AFP – Mahmud Hams) An Egyptian…

Lebanon s Civil War Missing Leave Families SearchingAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – The study found that just over three quarters of the families surveyed continue to believe that their relative is still alive, or at least that their fate remains unknown. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) The study found that just over three quarters of the families surveyed continue to…

Bir al-Abed: Flames and WreckageAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – Photo Blog By: Haitham Moussawi , Marwan Bou Haidar , Marwan Tahtah At least 53 people were wounded after a bomb exploded Tuesday morning in a parking lot in the densely-populated area of Dahiyeh in Beirut’s southern suburb. The bomb went off around 10:15 am local time. Al-Manar…

Israeli soldiers arrest 5-year-old Palestinian for throwing stoneAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – Israeli soldiers detained a 5-year-old Palestinian boy in the West Bank for two hours for throwing a stone, threatened his family with arrest, before handcuffing and blindfolding his father, an Israeli human rights NGO reported Thursday. According to a B Tselem press release , a group of seven…

The CIA: Al-Qaeda Dispatched 16 Tons of Explosives to LebanonAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – The American side claimed to have credible information that an al-Qaeda-linked group rigged two large trucks with up to seven tons of explosives each for detonation in Dahiyeh. The American side claimed to have credible information that an al-Qaeda-linked group rigged two large trucks with up…

Suicide bombers kill five policemen in IraqAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – Two suicide bombers attacked a police station in western Iraq on Thursday, killing at least five policemen, police sources said. The first bomber opened fire on a checkpoint as he approached the police station, shooting two dead before entering the building and blowing himself up, killing…

Saudi princess arrested in the US for human traffickingAl-Akhbar News 11 Jul 2013 – A Saudi princess was arrested on Wednesday and charged with human trafficking in the United States, after a domestic worker managed to flee and report abuse to the police, media reported. Meshael Alayban, who was was taken into custody by California police, was identified by prosecutors…

Gaza: Palestinians Footing the Bill for Egypt UprisingAl-Akhbar Politics 10 Jul 2013 – A Palestinian boy blows soap bubbles as he hawks toys on the eve of the start of the holy Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, at a street market in Gaza City on 9 July 2013. (Photo: AFP – Mohammed Abed) A Palestinian boy blows soap bubbles…

Lebanese Budget Skimps on Overloaded ArmyAl-Akhbar Politics 10 Jul 2013 – The army is making do with whatever resources it has at its disposal, but the growing scope of its responsibilities requires stepping up the army s funding. (Photo: Marwan Tahtah) The army is making do with whatever resources it has at its disposal, but the growing scope…

Articles

Israel’s indigenous invadersNeve Gordon and Nicola Perugini, Al Jazeera.com 7/10/2013Israel justifies the immanent relocation of thousands of Palestinian Bedouin by characterizing them as invaders.On June 24th the “Prawer Plan for the Arrangement of Bedouin-Palestinian Settlement in the Negev” passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament. If implemented, the Plan will constitute “the largest single act of forced displacement of Arab citizens of Israel since the 1950s”, expelling an estimated forty thousand Palestinian Bedouin from their current dwellings.The Plan s ultimate objective is to Judaize the Israeli Negev. In order to do this, however, seventy thousand (out of 200,000) Bedouin who currently live in villages classified as unrecognised by the Israeli government must be moved. The government already forbids them from connecting to the electricity grid or the water and sewage systems.Construction regulations are also harshly enforced, and in 2011 alone about a thousand Bedouin homes and animal pens – usually referred to by the government as mere “structures” – were demolished. There are no paved roads, and signposts from main roads to the villages are removed by government authorities. The villages are not shown on maps, since as a matter of official geography, the places inhabited by these second-class citizens of Israel do not exist.The government has, for years, argued that because these people live in small villages scattered across a relatively large area, it cannot provide them with basic services and therefore its objective has been to concentrate them in a few townships.Consequently, in 2009 Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu appointed his planning policy chief, Ehud Prawer, to liberate the “Jewish land”. Prawer’s main task was to relocate these seventy thousand Bedouin who have refused to sign over their property rights to the State and have continued living in their “unrecognised villages.”The logic informing the plan is actually best expressed in There is a Solution, a 2010 report published by a settler NGO called Regavim (The National Land Protection Trust), which has been working in conjunction with several government agencies….more..e-mail

Who speaks for Israel?†George S. Hishmeh, Arabic Media Internet Network (AMIN) 7/9/2013In the wake of the recent seemingly successful talks US Secretary of State John Kerry held with Palestinian and Israeli leaders it was puzzling to see that Israel s leaders failed to speak from the same page. This casts doubt on Israel s sincerity and, more worryingly, on the chances of a Palestinian-Israeli settlement. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, popularly known as Abu Mazen, after Kerry reported, upon his departure from the Middle East, that there was real progress in his meetings with the two leaders, said he was optimistic that Kerry will succeed in restarting Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, a view that The Associated Press observed was a rare upbeat assessment about American mediation efforts . He told a news conference that Kerry presented useful and constructive suggestions and promised to return to the region soon. In turn, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his Italian counterpart visiting this week that he wanted peace, stressing that he was ready to restart peace negotiations as soon as possible, without any obstacles . He added that he was ready to sit in the peace tent with the Palestinian leader until white smoke comes out . All this sounds nice and dandy, but here is the vision of another key member of Netanyahu s Cabinet and his Likud Party, Danny Danon, the deputy defence minister, who is described as a soft-spoken lawmaker with a penchant for sharp suits : I think the prime minister knows that if he is presenting the ideology of the Likud Party we all support him. However, he warned, if the leader decides to go the other direction [with the Palestinians] then & there will be changes within the Likud.”†more..†e-mail

The outlaws of our time are spreading poison in societyFahmi Huwaidi, Middle East Monitor (MEMO)†7/9/2013A Palestinian student I do not know asked me, “Is it true that we are being expelled from Egypt?” I was shocked by her question and replied quickly that I could not imagine it, nor would I expect this to happen under any circumstances. The young woman said nervously that this rumour was spreading amongst her Palestinian friends because since the coup they have been treated badly by their Egyptian colleagues. Some of the girls have packed their possessions in anticipation of a deportation order.I felt a sense of shame after the phone call ended, as it never occurred to me that such a rumour would spread in Egypt, and that the Palestinians would believe it. However, it seems that the demonisation and incitement has poisoned relations between the Egyptians and Palestinians to the extent that what once seemed impossible now seems both possible and very likely.Two days after that phone call, I saw on Egyptian television that four individuals affiliated to Hamas were caught in Heliopolis in possession of weapons “intended for use in terrorist operations”. The story caught my attention and I looked out for it closely for a couple of days but heard nothing more: no news of the prosecution; no suspects’ statements; no pictures of the weapons seized; not even pictures of the alleged cell members; nothing. At that point, I made a special effort to investigate the matter and uncover the truth, because the presence of a Hamas cell made up of four gunmen in Cairo under the current conditions is very dangerous and should be exposed. My investigations revealed the following:The four individuals are from the Gaza Strip. One is an engineering student in a private university living with a relative who also hosted other Palestinians working in the same trade.The student and his relative live in the Mokattam District, which is where the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters is located. This is what drew attention to them, and when they hosted other Palestinians, suspicions grew. — See also:†Hamas condemns claims it interferes in Egypt†more..e-mail

How Egypt s revolution betrayed itselfRamzy Baroud, Asia Times†7/9/2013“The revolution is dead. Long live the revolution,” wrote Eric Walberg, a Middle East political expert and author, shortly after the Egyptian military overthrew the country’s democratically elected President Mohammed Morsi on July 3. But more accurately, the revolution was killed in an agonizingly slow death, and the murders were too many to count.Mohamed ElBaradei, a liberal elitist with a dismal track record in service of Western powers during his glamorous career as the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is a stark example of the moral and political crisis that has befallen Egypt since the ouster of former President Hosni Mubarak.ElBaradei played a most detrimental role in this sad saga, from his uneventful return to Egypt during the January 2011 revolution – being cast as the sensible, Western-educated liberator – to the ouster of the only democratically-elected president this popular Arab country has ever seen. His double-speak was a testament not only to his opportunistic nature as a politician and the head of the Dostour Party, but to the entire political philosophy of the National Salvation Front, the opposition umbrella group for which he served as a coordinator.The soft-spoken man, who rarely objected to the unfair pressure imposed on Iraq during his services as the head of the UN nuclear watch dog, was miraculously transformed into a fierce politician with persisting demands and expectations.His party, like the rest of Egypt’s opposition, had performed poorly in every democratic election and referendum held since the ouster of Mubarak. Democracy proved him irrelevant. But after every failure he and the opposition managed to emerge even louder thanks to a huge media apparatus that operated around the clock in a collective, undying commitment in rearranging the country’s political scene in their favor, regardless of what the majority of Egyptians thought.Soon after General Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi announced a military coup on July 4, in what was clearly a well-organized conspiracy involving the army, much of the media, the opposition and disaffected Mubarak-era judges, has silenced the Muslim Brotherhood and their own media…..more..e-mail

Israel s Indigenous InvadersPalestine Chronicle: 11 Jul 2013 – By Neve Gordon and Nicola Perugini On June 24th the Prawer Plan for the Arrangement of Bedouin-Palestinian Settlement in the Negev passed its first reading in the Israeli parliament. If implemented, the Plan will constitute the largest single act of forced displacement of Arab citizens of Israel since the 1950s , expelling an estimated forty thousand Palestinian Bedouin from their current dwellings. The Plan s ultimate objective is to Judaize the Israeli Negev. In order to do this, however, seventy thousand (out of 200,000) Bedouin who currently live in villages classified as unrecognized by the Israeli government must be moved. The government already forbids them from connecting to the electricity grid or the water and sewage systems. Construction regulations are also harshly enforced, and in 2011 alone about a thousand Bedouin homes and animal pens usually referred to by the government as mere structures were demolished. There are no paved…more